Editorials: Where I rant to the wall about politics. And sometimes the wall rants back.

ObamaCare: it’s a tax, bitches

Jerry Stratton, June 28, 2012

That ObamaCare has been upheld is a disappointing decision, but I try never to bet against a government drawing more power to itself so I’m not surprised. And it could have been worse: it got an acknowledgement that this is bullshit under the commerce clause or the necessary and proper clause. It also acknowledged that this is a tax. It always was a tax, and President Obama lying that he wasn’t levying a gigantic tax didn’t change the fact that he and the Democrats levied a gigantic tax.

Worse, his gigantic tax increase isn’t even enough to pay for his health care takeover; it’ll accelerate the rise of our national debt, something that will have to be paid off one way or another, if not by us then by the next generation. Either by increased taxes or increased inflation.

Today’s decision is disappointing because this is a power to tax based on what we don’t do. In one stroke it makes our already complicated tax system infinitely more complex. Our tax law today is incomprehensible, but at least in theory you could know what things you had to pay attention to and ignore the rest. You bought a new house? Look for the tax laws on buying and owning a home. Got a job? Look for tax laws on income. Buying your own health insurance? Look for laws on that. The system is complex enough, and it taxes enough different things, that you’re probably going to forget something, eventually, and not pay your taxes on whatever it is you forgot you did. But you’ll be substantially in compliance because normally you know what you’ve done. And it is conceivably possible to simplify this sort of tax system so that you don’t run the risk of accidental felonies.

Today’s decision changes that. You can’t possibly look up all the things you aren’t doing. Even under a simplified tax plan there are still an infinite number of things that each of us individually are not doing. We’re all going to end up like the car manufacturer who didn’t think to submit their 100% electric car for emissions testing. Today it’s just one thing, not buying health insurance, but unless this power is curbed it will be used to tax other things we don’t do. And eventually we’ll have tens of thousands of pages of taxes on things we don’t do.

So it makes lawyers and accountants that much more important, since we will have to pay them to study all the things that people don’t do that can get us taxed. And we’re circling that much closer to the bureaucracy event horizon.

“The opinion actually ruled that the mandate violates the Commerce Clause, but as a tax that no longer matters… The Supreme Court has signed off on what is, in very practical terms, a tax levied by the insurance industry on Americans simply for existing. It’s an amazing, and fearsome, decision that really should have both Right and Left horrified.” (Memeorandum thread)

“Today, the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. But regardless of what the Court said about the constitutionality of the law, Obamacare is bad medicine, it is bad policy, and when Mitt Romney is president, the bad news of Obamacare will be over.”
(Hat tip to CAC at
Ace of Spades HQ)

Former President Barack Obama promises to tear down the barriers of hate, and end the divisions that plague shelters. “We will restore the Sanctuary’s image as the last, best hope for acceptance for all those touched by domestic violence.”

When you’ve dismantled every other defense, what’s left except the whining? The fact is, Democrats can easily defend against Trump over-using the power of the presidency. They don’t want to, because they want that power intact when they get someone in.

Economies of scale only produce lower prices when people are allowed a choice of service providers—including the choice to forego the service. Government-run programs do not benefit from economies of scale—in fact, scaling up will cause increased prices when the industry is run by the government.

The left wants to take the policies that are consolidating small businesses into larger ones, and use them to consolidate small churches into larger ones. They want to leverage milker bills and rent-seeking in religion.